


Improbable Meetings

by The_Playground_of_Alcor



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, crackfic, crackship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:27:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21752983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Playground_of_Alcor/pseuds/The_Playground_of_Alcor
Summary: Two badass women meet in a highly improbable manner. What will ensue? Who's to say! Certainly not me!
Relationships: Aloy/Kassandra
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had absolutely no goddamn clue what to title this, so...  
> Inspired by a comment made by a friend who went full-on Galaxy Brain when we were each playing the games (@lux--et--umbra on Tumblr), and I just had to write something for my new crackship!

With a final heave, Aloy finally pulled free the heart of the Thunderjaw she’d felled in this new cauldron. It had been a rough fight, the cauldron having supplied a pair of the massive machines alongside a handful of Watchers and Scrappers to harry her. Finally, though, she’d won out, though it ended up closer than she’d cared to admit.

Some days before, Aloy had picked up a new signal, very faint, beyond even the reaches of the Cut, past Banuk lands. It had been a trek to get there, and a risk with Eclipse beginning to mobilize toward Meridian, but any edge she might be able to glean over the machines of HADES was worth it, even at this late hour.

This cauldron had been tougher than the others. Longlegs and Stalkers had patrolled practically every inch of the place, and there’d been many times found herself almost overwhelmed by them. But despite the heavy odds, she’d pushed on, finally prevailing against two of the most fearsome machines she’d ever come across. And all for…

A door.

Hmm. Ok, that was odd. This was clearly the final chamber of the cauldron, but in addition to a core for her to override, there was another door to the side.

“There better be  _ something _ good waiting on the other side of all that, or I’m not going to be happy.” Aloy muttered to herself as she approached the door.

As she did, the now familiar red light emitted and scanned her, and a voice confirmed her identity as Elisabet Sobek, opening the door to allow her entry.

“All right,” Aloy thought as she cautiously made her way through. “Must be someplace special if Sobek’s the one to let me in.”

What sat behind the door seemed to be yet another facility, this one much like those Aloy had found time and again in her travels. A long hallway, overgrown by the centuries of rocky growth, rendering many of the doors blocked. A small number of the side rooms lay open, with a few audio or text files still intact enough for her Focus to find. They spoke of some final project, one beyond even the hopes of Project Zero Dawn.

Finally, she found a name to put to it: Project Reverse Dawn. An odd name, and one that seemed to clearly reference back to Zero Dawn. One record she found spoke of ending the Faro Swarm’s threat… Before it ever began? That made no sense, even by the usual standards of the Old Ones.

Eventually, she found herself in a wide room with one wall entirely of that hard glass the Old Ones used. The floor was taken up by desks and consoles set on tiers descending towards that glass. Most seats were empty, but a handful held the long-dead forms of the Old Ones who must have manned this facility. There was no way Aloy could see to tell how they died as they did. Most of the consoles lay inert, as dead as the people sitting in front of them, but a few still showed signs of life.

Stepping up to the glass, Aloy swiped away some of the grime to peer through it. On the other side, there lay a massive spherical space, surprisingly well-preserved, with what looked like almost tapering columns in the center, one coming down from the roof and one coming up from the floor. The space between them, in the exact center of the room, was a space perhaps a little larger than a Watcher standing at full height.

Returning to the consoles, she fiddled with the few controls still active, trying to get some kind of reading and understanding of the purpose of this facility. Gradually, she pulled hints from the displays.

One screen showed that the power levels were largely drained, with only enough power for one more use, whatever that use was. Another displayed complex calculations, ones that had apparently been running and worked on since the Faro Swarm threatened the world. It seemed these calculations had been shifted and changed a few times over the centuries. Many of them had new words, like "temporal repercussions" and "causality differentials", and a great many shifting numbers and equations. Even having learned so much of the world and science of the Old Ones, Aloy wasn't quite sure what this all meant.

Finally, through some clever redirecting of power flows, she managed to work the controls in such a way as to allow the facility to perform its final use. She hesitated for a moment, hand hovering over the holographic control. Who knew what this machine did, what effects it could have? Sure, it was built by the Old Ones to combat the Faro Swarm, but Aloy knew many of the Old Ones disagreed on how they might deal with the threat. For all she knew, this could be a device to replicate HADES’ work, and destroy everything on the planet, leaving no life, organic or mechanical.

“Then again,” She muttered to herself. “Elisabet was apparently involved in this, so it couldn't have been all bad… Right? Oh, I really hope I don’t regret this.”

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the holographic button. Systems whirred back to brief life, huge amounts of power flowing into the machine as it carried out its final task. Light flashed from the spherical chamber, as what seemed to be lightning struck inside it. The whirring ramped higher and higher, reaching volumes that Aloy almost didn't think she'd be able to stand, were it not for her salvaged protection from the Longlegs Sonic attacks.

Stepping forward to the window, Aloy clenched her bow, readying a pair of hardpoint arrows in case of anything she might need to use them against. Looking out, she saw the electricity sparking from the walls into the center (or was it from the center out toward the walls?), each bolt seeming to add to a whirling mass of energy in the middle.

As she watched, the lightning grew in frequency and intensity, making her turn away from it to avoid being entirely blinded. Even so, she saw the afterimages in her eyes, and tried to blink them away as the electricity reached a crescendo, emitting a nearly constant source of light, before letting out a sharp  **_CRACK_ ** and suddenly falling off. The whirring of power dropped sharply, and the last of the consoles finally went dark.

Aloy slowly turned back to the glass as a few emergency lights flickered to life, peering through to see the result of the machine. To her surprise, she saw someone in the chamber, just getting to her feet and looking around sharply. The woman seemed to be dressed fairly simply, with a study-looking chestpiece with a red cloth slung around her shoulders, and a tasseled skirt. In her hands, she held a mean-looking bow, arrow nocked, with a full quiver on her back, and at her side rested a pair of long knives, though one almost looked more like a spearhead. The woman seemed to be shouting something, but the glass was too thick for Aloy to hear what.

Glancing about the control room, Aloy spotted a side door marking a way into the chamber. Taking the hallway, she opened the door into the room, darting in excitedly, only to draw up short as an arrow glanced off the floor in front of her feet.

_ “Ποιος είσαι? Πού είμαι, τι είναι αυτό το μέρος? Είναι η σειρά του Άδη να με δοκιμάσει? _ ” The woman glared down a second drawn arrow at Aloy as she spoke quickly, in a language the Nora girl had never heard before.

Before she could respond, however, her Focus activated. “Greek detected. Initializing automatic translation.” The voice said, barely pausing before Aloy heard the woman’s voice again, this time in her own ear. “Who are you? Where am I, what is this place? Is it Hades’ turn to test me?”

“HADES!” Aloy exclaimed, latching onto what she hoped was a common thread between the two. “Yes, I’m fighting HADES, too! Who are you?”

The woman dropped her bow an inch, less sure but still wary.  _ “Τι? Τι μιλάς?” _ She asked, and the Focus translated to “What? What are you speaking?”

Aloy groaned in frustration, turning to start pacing as she muttered to herself. “Right, of course. You don’t have a Focus, so you can’t understand me. Of course, it couldn’t be simple, could it?”

Once it became clear that Aloy wasn’t going to attack her, the woman lowered her bow, replacing the arrow in her quiver while she spoke. The more she did, the quicker that Aloy’s Focus seemed able to translate, and Aloy started focusing more on the words she could understand and letting the original language wash over her.

“Ok, it’s pretty clear that we can’t speak each other's languages, right? But you look like you can understand me somehow, yes? How? Can you make it so I can, as well?”

Aloy put a hand to her Focus and perked up sharply. “Yes. Yes! Oh, of course! If I can find you a working Focus, then we can link them, and then… Come on, come with me!” She made for the doorway, motioning the woman to follow. After a moment of hesitation, she did, proceeding slowly down the hallways after a speedier Aloy.

Returning to the control room, Aloy moved from body to body, scanning for a Focus that was still active. The search proved fruitless, though, and she moved on to the side rooms she’d passed earlier. All the while, the woman followed, acting gradually less wary as the attack she watched for never materialized. Periodically, she muttered to herself, wondering at the place she was in, once commenting that “Socrates would kill to meet this one,” Once, Aloy turned to find the woman leaning against a doorframe, openly looking her over with a smile.

Finally, Aloy came across a signal. It was faint, easily missed, buried under a mass of desks and rubble that had been blocking a door, but after some digging, she pulled out a still active Focus. Using the knowledge she’d gleaned from Sylen’s workshop, she paired it with her own, giving it access to her database, then handed it to the woman. She took it, a puzzled look on her face as Aloy mimed how to afix it.

“I don’t very well see how some arrowhead is going to help, but alright…” The woman muttered, looking over the triangle, before affixing it over her ear as Aloy had shown her. She stood a moment, looking around, before spreading her arms and giving 'Ok, what now?' expression.

Unable to suppress a smirk at the woman's expression, Aloy reached up to tap the Focus, activating it. Having already paired it with her own, Aloy was able to see the holographic display that came up around the woman, startling her into jumping backward. "What sorcery is this now!" She exclaimed, hands darting to her weapons.

Aloy darted forward, holding up a pair of forestalling hands. "No, no, no, no, don't worry, it's fine! I promise! See, I have one, too!" She said, pointing to her own Focus. The woman calmed back down some, though she kept her weapons ready, just in case.

Aloy waited for the woman's Focus to finish booting up before speaking again. "See? All good."

The woman looked around sharply, then back to Aloy. "What was that voice? And how can I understand you now? What is this thing you've given me?"

Aloy sighed in relief. Maybe now she might make some progress with this mystery woman. "Ok, introductions first. I'm Aloy, of the Nora tribe. And you are…?" She motioned to herself as she spoke, then extended a hand in a questioning greeting.

The woman hesitated for a moment, but then took her hand, clasping her forearm in a firm and secure shake. "I am Kassandra, of the Spartan nation. A pleasure to meet you. Now, where exactly am I, and how can I get back home?"

Here, Aloy's smile faltered. "Oh. Right. Well, um, about that. First off, where  _ is _ home, exactly?"

Kassandra frowned at the uncertainty, but pressed on. "Well, 'home' is something of a… changeable location for me. At the moment when I was so suddenly brought here, I was in the midst of traveling to Athens from Korinthia."

Aloy blankly stared at the woman for a moment before slowly nodding. "Riiiiiight… Ok, well, can you tell me what kind of machines were in your lands? That might help me figure out where you were in relation to here."

Kassandra gave her a blank look. "Machines? I don't understand…"

Aloy sighed, mentally working through this new problem. "Right… Ok, tell you what, let's get outta here, and I'll show you what I mean, how about that?"

Kassandra gave a small smile and a nod. "That's the best thing you've said so far."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, a chapter 2? Whaaaaaaat?? Bit of a short one, but...  
> I'm not even going to bother trying to promise when the next will come, cause we all know how futile that is, but know that I do have plans and I do want to get this story out there! So keep an eye out, I guess!

The pair made the final climb out of the Cauldron quicker than Aloy had expected. Kassandra had proven to be just as adept at the task as Aloy, occasionally even surpassing her as she found handholds that the Nora hadn't noticed. Finally, they emerged from the cavernous depths and into the cold and snowy world beyond.

Kassandra looked about in awe. The world about here was coated in a thick blanket of snow. Walking up to one of the sturdy trees, she put a hand on the bark, studying it. "I've never seen trees quite like these before. Or this much snow!"

Aloy nodded, looking up into the branches. "I'm starting to get the feeling there's a lot more here you haven't seen before. Come on, we need to get back down the mountain before we can make camp."

Aloy began carving a patch down the slopes, taking her time… Until Kassandra started making her own path, a bit to the side. And a little bit faster than the Nora.  _ "Well, we can't have that, can we?" _ She thought as she took a more aggressive tack in her trailblazing.

A sidelong glance between the women and a shared smirk set the race off in earnest. In no time, the pair were racing down the mountain, dodging past trees as quick as their feet could take them, grins plastered on both of their faces as they worked to maintain their footing longer than the other one.

The race came to an abrupt end when Kassandra's foot caught on a root hidden by a snow drift, and she went head over heels down the slope. Aloy skidded to a stop, almost bowling over herself, and hurried to the other woman's aid in concern.

"Are you ok??" She asked, a note of desperation in her voice, before she was answered by a bout of loud and honest laughter from where Kassandra's fists suddenly thrust out of a snowbank in excitement.

"Ok? That was fantastic!!" The Spartan woman said, grinning even broader as Aloy helped her back on her feet. "I couldn't tell you the last time I've had a race like that!"

Aloy relaxed, joining in the laughter with her own relieved chuckles. "Well, glad to hear I can provide a little competition!"

Still laughing, they continued down the slope, a little less haphazardly now, making their way into the slightly less frigid foothills before dark forced them to make camp. While Kassandra built a lean-to, Aloy gathered wood for the fire and set about cooking their dinner. Periodically, she would sneak a peek at the strange woman she'd summoned from who-knew-where.

It had taken much of the climb down thinking about it, but Aloy felt reasonably sure that this woman wasn't going to recognize any of the machine beasts that Aloy was so familiar with. Given that she knew that the Faro Swarm had covered the entire planet, and that Gaia had implemented the machines to rebuild the Earth's biosphere, and humanity itself, it seemed unlikely that any other tribe on the planet would be unaware of them.

One of the phrases she'd noticed on the consoles in the Reverse Dawn chamber rang in her mind. "Temporal repercussions". She'd come across the word "temporal" a time or two in the records she'd found scattered about from the Old Ones, and figured that it was a more proper term for time. But if that was a major point in the workings of the machine…

"The stars."

Kassandra's voice cut through Aloy's thoughts, and she rouses herself from them to see her standing by the lean-to, looking up at the sky. "What about them?"

For the first time since arriving here, Kassandra looked unsure of herself. "I don't know these stars. I see the Northern Star, I know that one, but these others…? I don't know them." She looked back down at Aloy, a look of confusion on her face. "I don't know where I am."

Aloy looked up at the sky she had known all her life, trying to imagine what it must be like to see stars that she was wholly unfamiliar with. She was starting to come to a conclusion about where Kassandra was from.

"Yeah, about that…" Aloy took a deep breath, figuring out where to start. "I think I have an idea about what happened, and about where you are now."

"By all means, please." Kassandra said as she sat by Aloy near the fire, attentive to her next words.

"Well, if I'm right, you're now a long,  _ long _ way away from where you were. Or, I guess it’d be  _ when _ you were…”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope to write more on this as inspiration comes, but I figured I needed to at least put out this part so others could enjoy it!


End file.
